Here are a few carbonaceous chondrite pieces I just received along with yet more pieces I brought home from Tucson.Some of the “from Tucson” pieces are from a collection of material I picked up from Alan Lang (mostly small things he had set aside from many years ago). Pieces from that lot you will start to see filling out future offerings this summer.

I also need to announce that it seems that I will be doing the Colorado Springs show in a couple weeks. A friend and fellow dealer (who I see mostly at the Creede show in August) ended up being assigned a 10’ X 30’ booth with no way to fill it. I will be brining a couple tables (one 8’ and one 6’ I think) and help fill the space. This show is now located at the Mortgage Solutions Expo Center (it used to be at the Mining Museum north of town. Neat place to have a show, but out of the way and quite hard to find if you didn’t know where you were going). This is at 3650 N. Nevada Ave in Colorado Springs. The days are: Friday June 3rd through Sunday June 5th with hours of 10-5 on Friday and Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday. Anybody that thinks they might come to the show please contact me if there is anything off of any semi recent (past 6 months or even longer perhaps) offerings (mailed and e-mail) or otherwise that you want me to bring (being a relatively small show I don’t automatically bring a lot of inventory).

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.I haven’t had much Allende recently but got two pieces of this just a couple days ago. Both are very fresh. One is an angular fragment that has no crust but shows a lot of chondrules and CAIs. This particular piece is nice and interesting the way it is but it might be a good candidate for cutting into some nice slices. The other sample is also super fresh but is a really nice end piece. The cut side shows lots of chondrules and CAIs. The back side is mostly covered by fresh black crust (probably 85% coverage). It is apparent that this piece was picked up pretty much immediately after the fall. The crust shows some scuff marks from its impact BUT it also shows smeared in plant fibers (so it obviously hit some plants when it fell). These are such that they likely would have easily washed off if this had been out in the weather much. a) 169.0 gram fragment – 70mm x 50mm x 35mm - $1350b) 108.5 gram end piece – 80mm x 50mm x 17mm - $1300

DAR AL GANI (449), Libya: Ordinary chondrite (LL6). Found 1998. Tkw = 184 grams.This is a cut natural fragment. The cut face shows a nice classic LL6 texture. There are some rounded light gray clasts, smaller chondrules and metal grains in a mottled light tan to brown matrix. The back side is a mix of wind polished fracture surfaces (mostly very old) and fusion crust. The fusion crusted surface makes up 40% or so of the back side. Not a rare item by type but a nice specimen none the less and probably now next to impossible to get for those that want a piece of all the different numbers they can get. This specimen is in a Riker with a Lang Collection label. 14.9 gram cut fragment – 25mm x 20mm x 16mm - $75

MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.These are all nice little natural fragments. When I received these they had some dirt on them but a quick air blasting cleaned them up such that they look pretty much like they just fell. Each specimen has some fusion crust. The 1.14 gram piece has the most at around 30% coverage. The worst (the smallest) still has a crust patch that is around 10mm x 6mm in size but has a lot of deep flow structure and bubbling. 1) Natural fragments with crust:a) .78 grams – 12mm x 11mm x 4mm - $110b) 1.14 grams – 16mm x 10mm x 7mm – 160c) 1.66 grams – 13mm x 12mm x 9mm - $230d) 1.87 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 10mm - $260

NWA (865): Ordinary chondrite (L4). Found 2000. Tkw = 263 grams.The Meteoritical Bulletin report for this find shows that seven pieces total of this meteorite were found. Kind of too bad more weren’t recovered as this is actually very nice. This is a complete stone that is completely covered in thick, heavy fusion crust. This does show some minor amounts of wind-polishing but not much as the crust retains its full fresh crust texture. The shape of this is the classic rounded edges meteorite shape. A great little piece for showing people what a real meteorite should look like. This specimen is in a Riker with a Lang Collection label. I have priced this pretty much the same as Alan had it priced nearly 15 years ago. 39.1 gram complete individual – 40mm x 20mm x 18mm - $80

NWA (1500): Achondrite (Ureilite). Found 2000. Tkw = 3.3 kilograms.I single nearly complete stone with patches of fusion crust was found. This little part slice shows some of that crust. This little part slice is a ¼ slice and has two cut edges and one long natural edge. The long natural edge clearly shows a rounded meteorite shape and does have a few small patches of actual fusion crust remaining (for some reason, it is pretty rare to see fusion crust on a ureilite). This is a specimen from Alan Lang. It is mounted in a membrane box that is then in a small Riker with a RA Langheinrich Meteorite Collection label. 2.0877 gram part slice – 17mm x 8mm x 5mm - $60

NWA (8362): HED achondrite (howardite). Found 2013. Tkw = 548 grams.This is an interesting specimen. It is a ½ slice (one cut edge, remaining edges are natural) that shows a lot of rounded clasts of many colors (gray, tan, greenish) and a surprising amount (for a howardite anyway) of metal grains in a light gray matrix. The Meteoritical Bulletin report indicates that this is close to the perfect howardite. Howardites are simply breccia mixes of diogenites and eucrites. To officially be a howardite there must be at least 10% diogenitic material in the mix (not sure of the minimum of eucritic material but I suspect that it is also around 10%). The research report for this particular stone says that it is composed of roughly 50% diogenitic orthopyroxene with the remaibder being eucritic material. 11.0 gram part slice – 47mm x 35mm x 3mm - $150

SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1967.This is a triangular/ wedge- shaped piece that probably resulted from someone making a sphere (to do that, you start with a cube and then begin cutting edges and corners off until you have a rough, lumpy roundish thing that you put into the sphere grinder). Regardless, this piece is very rich in olivine crystals (some gemmy). 16.2 grams – 40mm x 17mm x 7mm - $80

Here is an assortment of older Lunar slices that I had on display over in Montrose (I picked them up yesterday). I had left them there for a few years so that the folks of Montrose who thought they were plowing up, tripping over, building fence rows out moon rocks (thanks to the local paper, library and the loon they supported/ aided and abetted) would have the chance to see and compare to genuine Lunar material. We (the store and I) were going to have a publicized “come see real moon rocks and have your potential meteorites identified” event. He had been asking me to do this for a few years now but I didn’t think it was a particularly safe idea. Now with the loon in jail for the time being, we began to set up a schedule and began making plans. However, the event has now been permanently canceled. The store owner’s wife saw the still huge potential danger in hosting such an event and (wisely in my opinion) has forbade it from happening in their store. I won’t go into the ugly details here (some day I might explain all the “excitement” that has developed because of my involvement in showing Montrose is NOT the “Meteorite Capital of the World”) but she CLEARLY understands that there are far more people that are upset and involved in the issue than just the guy in jail (unfortunately, it seems my actions have also managed to upset the local and state “Sovereign Citizen” movement. These folks are listed by the FBI as the greatest terrorist threat within the US). Basically, the store no longer needs (nor wants) the liability of these rocks on display so now I am making some of them available for sale. Needless to say, I have only one of each of these (and some of these are really hard to come by these days) so contact me quickly if possible if you are interested. On the expensive pieces I am happy to work out time payments or such if needed as well.

DAR al GANI (400), Libya: Lunar (anorthositic breccia). Found 1998. Tkw = 1425 grams.Boy, this meteorite sure scared the _ell out of me when its discovery was announced. I had wired $87k to Germany to buy a piece of Dar al Gani (262) that was the size of a nickel and had not received it yet when this new lunar was announced. Thankfully (or I would have probably gone bankrupt and left meteorites all together) this huge new lunar did not become available for quite some time (not much of it was offered for sale and it was not cheap when it did finally make its way to collectors). So, me and my chips of Dar al Gani (262) ended up being the first lunar material released widely to collectors. Anyway, this is a long triangular thin slice. There are some light clasts in a medium to dark gray mottled matrix. Not real exciting but this particular material is not commonly available. .243 gram slice – 20mm x 8mm x .5mm - $400

DHOFAR (461), Oman: Lunar (anorthositic crystalline melt breccia). Found 2001. Tkw = 33.7 grams.The total known weight listed above is for the particular stone this slice was cut from. Apparently, 13 paired pieces totaling 708 grams were ultimately recovered. To be honest, this sure does not look exciting (but it is a bit different in type/ texture from most Lunar specimens) with only a few really tiny white clasts in dark brown matrix. The edge of this piece is about ½ natural and ½ cut. I got it years ago (at a much higher price) form the Russians that supposedly found it. .95 gram slice – 28mm x 18mm x .5mm - $1000

NWA (032): Lunar (olivine-pyroxene basalt). Found October 1999. Tkw = about 300 grams.Hmm, for 300 grams supposedly being found of this I sure haven’t ever seen much of it around over the years. I got this from Alan Lang many years ago (and it was really expensive back then – not that it is really cheap now). Of all the Lunar basalts I have ever seen, this stuff looks the most like a basalt (at least a terrestrial basalt). It has small (mm or so sized) greenish tan crystals in a dark gray, nearly black matrix. This is a super thin slice in a membrane box. A small (around 3mm x 2mm) corner has broken off (good E-Bay micro?). The slice is solid otherwise (though so thin I would advise against handling it). .206 gram slice – 15mm x 10mm x .5mm - $600

NWA (482): Lunar (impact melt breccia). Found 2000. Tkw = 1015 grams.Here is small but super nice piece of possibly the most famous Lunar meteorite. This piece may be small but it has absolutely everything you want to see in a piece of this meteorite. Half of the edge has a nice sculpted shape and is covered with fusion crust (the remainder is broken, not cut). The interior shows a fantastic breccia texture. About 1/3rd is a large white clast. The remainder shows lots of small angular white clasts separated by black shock melt veins. A “micro” specimen in size only. .388 gram slice – 12mm x 11mm x 1mm - $750

NWA (2727): Lunar (mare basalt/ gabbro breccia). Found 2005. Tkw = 191.2 grams.Here is one that I shared with a few other people. Four stones were recovered (30.6g, 11.6g, 64g, 85g). I got the 30.6 gram piece. This particular slice is a complete slice (well complete slice of the fragments anyway) of my specimen. This is interesting/ odd looking stuff. A bit over half of this slice is a mottled medium gray material (likely the mare basalt portion) with the remainder being neat brecciated mix of green, white and gray material (likely the gabbro). 4.15 gram complete slice – 35mm x 27mm x 2mm - $3500

NWA (2995): Lunar (feldspathic breccia). Found 2005. Tkw = 538 grams.Here is a slice that makes people say “Wow!”. This slice is exactly what most people think of when they think “moon rock”. This has the classic highly brecciated texture with LOTS of light colored clasts (of all sizes – up to close to a centimeter) in a dark gray matrix. This is a nice, solid complete slice. A real museum piece. 11.5 gram complete slice – 70mm x 45mm x 1mm - $8000

NWA (2977): Lunar (gabbro). Found 2005. Tkw = 233 grams.This is a slice I picked up years ago as the “gabbro” (basaltic composition but solidified slower below the surface so it developed coarser crystal structure) for my collection. This is a part slice that has crust/ natural exterior around about 2/3rds of the edge. The remaining edge is freshly broken but has a natural appearance to it. The interior is a fine granular light greenish tan color with lots of fine black shock veins running through it. 1.55 gram slice – 23mm x 20mm x 1mm - $1100